Learning is Sweet

There is nothing quite like candy to capture the attention of children excluding video games and live animals neither of which are allowed in my classroom. I know it can be intimidating to introduce themes into a classroom with the high demands on our students to meet state and national standards and the overload of curricula and standards we squeeze into a day. Teaching with themes can still meet all the standards AND engage learners in a nontraditional but highly relatable way. Here is how we used candy to teach reading, writing, math, science and social studies ALIGNED to state standards.

Recommended Books:
Curious George Goes to the Chocolate Factory
Chavala and the Magic Bubble
Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum
Hansel and Gretel

I started with Candy Shop packs from Teachers Notebook. You can find them here: Writing Pack, Reading Pack

Reading/ELA:
Take home reader for the week: The Candy Shop
The Candy Shop Easy Reader

For my students that are still working on letters, we used Twizzlers Pull and Peel Licorice to make letters and spell words. I used letter mats as a modification for my students struggling with letter formation. Such a great alternative to tracing.













We also worked on the -eet word family. My students made these fun "-eet sweets" with paper plates and construction paper. Two paper plates and a metal brad makes studying for spelling way more fun!

Directions:
Decorate one paper plate. Cut out a small rectangle on the decorated plate. Poke small hole through the center of both plates. Push the brad through both plates. Spin the blank plate and write the onsets in the rectangular opening.

Math:

 We used these plastic number trays to practice formation and identification with M&Ms.

Today we read Hershey's Kiss Addition Book and added along with the book. We used tongs to add in a fine motor component. My students have never been more excited to practice their addition facts

Art:

Twizzler Pull and Peels are amazing paint brushes. I gave my students half of one with no directions. So much fun!

Science:
This six weeks we are learning about the moon and stars. Today we read Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle. We used toothpicks and DOTS to make stars. We also made some constellations.

Addition Magician

The "Addition Magician" is a great way to make math visual. It took less than an hour to make with mostly recycled materials and my students love it.


Materials:
cardboard box
two paper towel rolls
hot glue gun
optional:
scrapbook paper
ribbon
paint

Cut one side of a cardboard box. You will want to save this piece to use as an incline. Turn the box so that the opening is on the side. Make two holes on the top of the box to feed the paper towel rolls through. I cut the paper towel rolls on an angle so that the poms poms could come out more easily. Glue the paper towel rolls in place at the top of the box. Decorations are optional but what 7 year old doesn't love glitter!

Baking Up Learning

As a child, teaching was not on my radar. I wanted more than anything to be a pastry chef. As a teacher, I decided to combine my love of baking with my love of teaching. This week we began our "Baking Up Learning" theme. I started with my own "Baking Up Learning" packs including reading, writing and math activities. You can find these @ http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/misscaroline

Reading
Recommended Books:
How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A.
Bake Sale
Froggy Bakes a Cake
The Runaway Piggy (bilingual)
Cupcake
Cookies, Bite-Sized Life Lessons
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

I introduced the -ake word family for the first week of the unit. We made these super easy "-ake cakes".  Materials:
Card Stock
crayons
scissors
metal brad

My students decorated their cakes and cut them out. Then I poked a hole through the middle and cut a rectangle in the cake. I then used another piece of card stock to make a circle. Make a hole in this piece too. Then use the brad to connect the cake and the circle so that the circle looks like a wheel on the back. Write -ake next to the rectangle on the cake and then all of the beginning sounds on the circle so that students can turn the circle and make different -ake words.

Front

back

Blueberry Pie
For my students still working on letter formation and learning the alphabet, we made "blueberry pies". I used tin pie pans and added blue sand. We practiced our letters using our fingers and popsicle sticks. You could extend this for word work and draw spelling words or sight words.

Ome of my sweet students practicing her sight words  from our reading program.

Alphabet Cookies
I printed these cookies out from my Baking Up Learning Pack and laminated them. We put them on the cookie sheet and use a spatula to serve up alphabet cookies! So fun! I use sight word cookies for my more advanced kids. Available at http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/misscaroline

Cupcake Books
After reading Cupcake, my students designed their own cupcakes. I cut out a simple template with a top and bottom for them to trace. We then made an easy flip book in which the students described the cupcake they had created. I varied the number of pages depending on the grade level/ability level of my students.

What Goes in the Bowl?
Great phonics activity! I brought a bowl and gathered items from around my classroom. My students had to decide which items begin with the 'b' sound. You could also try it with rhyming words or really extend this activity to any category. Science- things that will/won't float, living/nonliving, etc. Math- things that add up to..., shapes, really anything!









Vocabulary
I used my own Baking Up Learning pack and printed the vocabulary cards and writing pack to teach the vocabulary. My students loved learning and using kitchen tools!











The second week of the unit, we learned the -ut ending. We made these cute -ut donuts. Under each sprinkle is one of the spelling words that makes an -ut sound.

Math
Numbers: Super simple felt cookies with light brown felt. Students draw a number (I used Mickey Mouse flashcards cards/UNO) and add that number of chocolate chips (dark brown felt).

We also practiced counting for my younger ones and addition and subtraction for my older students in our bake shop (see below). My students love pretending to buy and sell items and its way more fun than a worksheet!

In this activity, I gave my students play hammers and popsicle sticks to excavate all the chocolate chips from a cookie. We had crumbs all over, but had such a good time that we didn't mind cleaning up. After we grouped and counted all the chocolate chips, we made a picture graph.

Science
Of course the best part of this unit is baking! We do not have an oven in our classroom and I am hesitant to use a hot plate with my students, so we get creative with the crockpot. Earlier in the year we made applesauce in the slow cooker and my students loved it. For this unit, we made Mud Pie.

Shout out to The Crockin' Girls for the recipe. My students loved making it and it tasted pretty good, too!

Mud Pie
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 stick melted margarine
cooking spray

Cook on high for two hours.
I cooked on high for 1 hr 45 min then turned to low for the last 15.



Social Studies 

Today we read "How to Bake a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A". This book is great to integrate social studies in with reading. Before we read the book, we put together a puzzle of the United States so we could find all the states as we read. You could also use a map, but the puzzle was a great team building activity.

Dramatic Play
I transformed our "snow shack" into this cute Bake Shop with some new felt.

My students love playing in the Bake Shop with play food and utensils. This is great for building social skills, supporting vocabulary and engaging students in the unit. We also use this store to shop for real items at the end of everyday with the money they have earned throughout the day for completing task, having nice manners, making good choices, etc. .

Sensory
Two Words: Chocolate Rice. The sand table in our classroom is usually filled with rice that is colored or scented or both. The rice is super easy to make and easily changed and modified. I had peppermint rice in the table already so I just added the chocolate rice. Think Peppermint Pattie.
Directions:
Place rice in large bag (gallon ziploc works well- leave a little room in the top). I usually make between 2-4 bags at a time to fill my entire table. You can purchase 20lb bags of rice for about $10.
Add chocolate extract (1-2 tablespoons per bag depending on how strong you would like it).
Add food coloring
Seal the bags and shake up.
Leave out in the sun or a window to dry OR slightly open the bag and let air dry inside. Depending on the weather and how much extract/coloring the rice usually takes a few hours to dry or in some cases a day or two.
It took me a little while to find chocolate extract. I ended up just ordering it from Amazon. I also had trouble finding brown food coloring so I just mixed red, yellow and blue food gels into a few tablespoons of hot water.

To cap off the unit, we made cupcakes. I brought my miniature cupcake maker from home and used a recipe for vanilla cupcakes from the book Tina Cocolina.